A large number of prosthesis-systems exist on the market for replacement of the natural hip joint. These are made, as shown in FIG. 1, as a rule from a shaft 1 coupled with a ball head 2 and a synthetic acetabular cup 4 coupled with a socket insert 3. Shaft 1 and acetabular cup 4 are attached to the body mostly through ingrowth in the femur and/or hip bones and are carriers for ball head 2 and/or socket insert 3. The ball head 2 is rotatably mounted in the calotte of the socket insert 3 and forms a wear couple with this. Various materials such as ceramics, among others, are used for the gliding partner. Modular systems as described above exist on the acetabular side of the wear couple, which means that acetabular cups and socket inserts are supplied separately and accordingly are only joined in situ. In addition, monolithic systems exist which have only a single acetabular component and are inserted directly into the hip bones, and preassembled systems in which acetabular cup and socket insert are already joined together by the manufacturer.
The required minimum strength of ceramic acetabular hip joint implants is frequently ensured by a proof test (100%-checkup). Thereby the acetabular hip joint implant is mechanically stressed. This is described in EP 0 921 771 A1 or DE 198 41 826. 100%-check means that the equipment is mechanically stressed before delivery and components with critical defects break in the proof test, so that only components having sufficiently high mechanical strength pass the proof test.
At present, various test setups are in use for the many specific geometries of the acetabular hip joint implants. This requires a multitude of test setups and also a large storage capacity.